Sustainable Landscaping Fundamentals

Water-wise Gardens Healthy Watersheds

What is Sustainable Landscaping?

Sustainable landscaping is a term coined
to mean sensible landscape practices that
operate within the limits of the Eco-system. These landscape practices work within the limits of your local rainfall,
soil conditions and sun patterns. When
designed correctly, a sustainable landscape
will not only be beautiful but will need a bare
minimum of additional resources in the form
of water and soil amendment to be vital and
attractive.

About the Fact Sheets

These brief fact sheets are intended to help you get starting turning your garden space
into a sustainable landscape with an increase and not a decrease in beauty. There are
many resources available to you to accomplish this task. Many water agencies offer
classes and workshops for guidance. The landscape industry is full of trained professionals
that have both turn-key services or can guide the "do-it-yourselfer".

Your work can proceed from one section of the garden fact sheets to another as time and money will
allow. In the end, a sustainable landscape will be cost effective and will save you
money in reduced maintenance and materials costs. And lastly, there is the satisfaction
of knowing that you have managed your little section of the environment in a manner
beneficial to future generations.

A sustainable landscape is free of toxins
and chemical fertilizers that have proven
to be so damaging to the watershed when
concentrated after rainstorms. In a word,
sustainable landscaping is nothing other than
doing things as closely as possible with our
natural system which makes the garden self-sustaining,
hence sustainable.

Typical landscapes feature large turf
areas that require gas powered or electric
powered equipment to maintain. Plants
sold at the local nursery are often planted in
inappropriate places without consideration of
their sun, soil and water needs. Conventional
landscaping destroys soil and plant health by
employing chemical fertilizers and pesticides
to solve problems. Rain and irrigation water
concentrate and transport these chemicals
down street gutters and into community
storm drains, which carry them down stream, creating a toxic brew.

This pollution is harmful to wildlife and
ultimately, ourselves. Water conservation is
critical to sustainability. Water is one of our
most precious resources and nationally, the
average water wasted outdoors is 50%.
That's right, half the water most people put
on their gardens never gets to its intended
target. It is lost in run-off and evaporation.

Save Money:

Lower water bill

Reduced maintenance costs

Reduced costs from purchasing pesticides and fertilizers

Reduced energy costs from power equipment

Sustainable GardenHidden Benefits:

Entertainment factor of the ever changing landscape

Habitat creation for birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects

Teach children how to landscape responsibly

Page 2- Steps to creating a sustainable landscape

Sustainable Landscaping Fundamentals

Water-wise Gardens Healthy Watersheds

Healthy Soil Leads to Healthy Plants

Just like good food helps build strong
bodies, good soil provides a strong growing
medium for healthy plants. Strong plants
resist the challenges of pests, disease and
drought far better than weak ones. There
is a natural cycle of the soil enrichment
between plants and the soil. Seasonal leaf
drop revitalizes the soil with organic matter
and spurs decomposition. Organisms in
the soil break down these natural materials
to complete the cycle. This cycle can be
sustained and enhanced with proper soil
management.

Putting Plants in the Right Places

Different plants have different needs just as people do. They cannot all be treated the same.
Plant a shade plant in the full sun and to maintain health, constant watering is necessary. Plant
a shade plant in the shade and it may not need more watering than the other
plants in your yard. Learn about the sun, soil and water needs of your plants. Make sure they
have enough room to grow and spread out. The more wisely you plant, the greater the chance
for both success and low maintenance.

Water Wisely

Most people over water by a wide margin. Half the water used residentially finds its way
into the gutter and storm drains due to run off. Irrigation systems are machines and require
maintenance and repair. New irrigation technologies have advanced our water efficiency
dramatically. Look into new rotor heads, drip systems and smart controllers. Check your
irrigation system for breaks and leaks monthly and above all, change your controller based on
the weather.

Smart Pest Management

Your first line of defense are healthy
plants. There are many approaches to
natural pest and weed management;
when integrated, it can help avoid the need
for pesticides and herbicides. Selecting
plants adapted to our climate is the first
step to avoid difficulty with pests, weeds,
or disease.

Other approaches include:

Using cultural controls such as removing
irrigation water and fertilizer from areas
where you don't want weeds to grow.

Using less toxic herbicides such as herbicidal
soaps and vinegars.

Using physical controls such as manual
removal with tools or smothering weeds
with a mulch barrier.

Use biological controls, such as
selecting competitive, desirable plants
that make it hard for weeds to grow or
attracting beneficial insects to control
insect pests.